11 Ways High Tech Gadgets That Could Be Hurting You

Hail all gadget lovers who are inseparable from their smart devices. We know how much you love them and how much you must have waited to own them. The evolution of smart devices has undoubtedly changed our lives for the best, and we can’t imagine a day without calling out Alexa, Siri, or Hello Google. And even now you’re hooked to your phone, tab, or laptop reading our article! But all said and done, does living a complete “smart life” have any adverse effects on our lives? sadly, plenty! We at Stylecraze made a list of ways high-end gadgets could cause more harm than make your life easier:

1. Computer Vision Syndrome

Be it work from home or offline work, you end up staring at a computer screen blankly for hours at the end of the day. Sadly, the human eye isn’t equipped to focus on the same spot for hours at a time. If you spend a significant amount of time at the computer screen you are likely to suffer from computer vision syndrome that includes tired eyes, eyestrain irritation, redness, blurred vision, and double vision (1). To combat the situation, a tinted lens could help to improve the difficulty of contrast and lessen the strain on your eyes.

2. Insomnia

If you struggle to fall asleep every day, it’s time you check your screen time. Bright screens could disrupt the internal timer of your body (2). Even fun activities like video games and watching a movie late at night can be the cause for your sleepless nights. That’s because your body becomes active after a stimulating session. Since you are constantly thinking and distracting your mind with these activities, sleep takes a backseat. It’s not that you are not tired, but it will definitely come back as fatigue later in the day. Apart from that, the dark circles around will go and even worse, it will affect your eyesight adversely.

3. Repetitive Stress Injuries

The frequent, tiny movements required to control a mouse and type at a keyboard may cause irritation to tendons, and swelling could put pressure on nerves (3). Just a half-hour of using a computer mouse can cause injuries to your forearm, shoulder, or hands. If you think this is far-fetched, consider it again. Your body is always stiff whenever you are engaged in any online activity, like watching something, desperately trying to win a game, or getting a task done. You may think it is a form of relaxation if you are curled up in your bed or couch watching Netflix, but your neck muscles probably say otherwise. Prolonged bingeing can also cause your eyes to water and result in splitting headaches.

4. Obesity

This one is a pretty obvious one and we’re sure many have experienced it even more after the pandemic started. There is a close link between obesity and gadgets making your life easier, as both reduce movements. Smart gadgets make us spend all day sitting on our backs. Be it ordering food at our fingertips or not having to move to the switchboard to get the lights. Making life more relaxed has also reduced our physical activities significantly.

5. Hearing Damage

When we think of ear damage, it’s always the high volume and noise pollution we complain about, but what about the earphones always plugged in your ear canal? The better the quality of your device, the better your ears will be, but is that all? It is the duration of the noise that poses a threat to your ears. The higher the volume of your music, the more you are sabotaging your ability to hear different frequencies (4).

6. Destroys Your Concentration

If you are doing something relaxing like reading a book or just looking outside, and your phone rings, it blocks your memory from what you were doing and immediately calls your attention on the phone. While that is the whole point of having a phone, it also destroys your attention span and keeps you distracted from everything else happening in real life.

7. Can Trigger Asthma

Before you think about how gadgets could give you asthma, think of the amount of air pollution you are exposed to inside the closed door of your office building. Modern laser printers release tiny particles in the air that could easily be inhaled and cause congestion in your lungs (6). The next time you get a printer for your home, make sure you select the entirely safe one for the home environment.

8. Gives You The Bad Posture

If you are wondering why you seem hunchbacked in your latest picture, here is your answer. If someone criticizes your banana posture in front of the mirror, you should know it’s not your spine’s fault; it’s the phone you have been diving into headlong! No matter how tempted you are to slouch down and check the notifications, remember, it will only make your back hurt more.

9. It May Stunt Your Imagination

While most artists use the internet on their devices for reference and study, in a way, it kills your imagination and makes you follow only what you see on the internet. This is particularly dangerous for children as they should rely on nothing but their imagination to source their creativity.

10. Technology Uses More Energy Than You Think

If you feel the gadgets you use are not responsible for pollution, think again! All the devices run on electricity, and that consumes more than you would think. The non-renewable energy sources for generating electricity are slowly depleting, so it is always better to rely on renewable sources if you can.

11. Puts Privacy At Stake

This hurt is not physical but far more worse if you get caught in this spiral. Since we have every personal detail saved in our smartphones, laptop and email addresses, there is naturally an alarming rise in hackers, and other forms of cyber crime. You never know when your personal info can be leaked if someone has anything against you. As easy as accessing the devices are, login into all your devices also makes it easily accessible by everyone, including kids. If you have children at home, make sure you put a child lock on the internet where you can keep a check on what your children are subjected to.

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Author

Indrani KarmakarSenior Social Writer

 

Indrani is a writer and artist who likes to add a dash of humor to everything she does. She has two years of experience in writing articles across beauty, health, and lifestyle genres. After graduating in Political Science from Calcutta University, she took a detour into the world of creativity and discovered her knack for social writing, advertising, designing, and doodling.

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